adj. [A. S. blâc or blæc; Engl. bleached and bleak; Swed. blek; Germ. bleich and blass]:—pale, wan, of the colour of gold, Fms. v. 345; of bad silver, Grág. i. 500; of fruits, Stj. 161; of ripe barley fields, b. akrar, Nj. 112, and N. T. John iv. 35, a rendering of λευκός in the Gr.; of animals, a fawn-coloured horse is in Icel. called Bleikr, m., a mare Bleik, f., Flov. 33, Vígl.; an ox, Vápn. 21; of hair, auburn, Fær. 156; bleikt hár, the fair locks of a baby, Rm. 31, where ‘bleak and bright’ are alliterative; Homer’s ξανθός is in Icel. rendered by bleik-hárr.

2. = Lat. pallidus, the colour of ashes, pale from fright, loss of blood, or emotion, Fms. i. 216; fiskbleikr, pale as a fish, vii. 269; b. sem bast, pale as bast, etc.: of the moonshine, Sks. 627: the colour of death, því ligg ek b. í brúki, of a corpse mouldering at the bottom of the sea, Fms. vi. 376.